In what is being seen as an attempt to draw south Indian voters to its fold, Shiv Sena’s South Central Member of Parliament and corporator Rahul Shewale is organising a five-day long Sri Venkateswara Vaibhavotsavam puja of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam at the Somaiya ground in Chunabhatti.
A bunch of letters has already been dispatched by Mr Shewale to all senior leaders of the party including the vibhag pramukhs asking them to attend the puja. The letter mentions dates and timings for every division in that block, including the list of shaka pramukhs, who are expected to attend the puja.
The particular puja is relevant as it is being organised for the first time in Mumbai and would expectedly help Sena shed its anti-south Indian tag — a rallying call of the party in its inception day.
Mr Shewale represents the constituency, which includes Dharavi, Wadala, Antop Hill and Rawli camp that are major South Indian belts in the city. Mr Shewale said that chief minister Devendra Fadnavis would inaugurate the week-long divine festival on Monday and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray would visit the festival to seek the blessings of Lord Sri Venkateswara.”
A senior Sena leader from South Mumbai said: “It is a show of strength for the party and also an effort to reach out to the south Indians. In certain areas of Mumbai, they have a strong presence, and could decide the winner, especially of the two seats in Dharavi. It would be good to get the party into their good books,” said the leader.
The only south Indian MLA from Mumbai is Tamil Selvan, who is from the BJP and the only south Indian MP is Gopal Shetty, again from BJP. The Sena too has set sights on making inroads into the south Indian vote base.
